Big data makes people safer, says Guiyang mayor

There have been more than 20,000 surveillance cameras installed in public areas in Guiyang with the intended goal of improving safety, said Chen Yan, mayor of Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou province. The statement was made at the press conference for Guizhou NPC deputies on March 8, during the 2018 NPC&CPPCC Annual legislative and Political Advisory Sessions in Beijing.

The cameras are used for facial recognition by local public security. In 2016, the Guiyang government cooperated with Beijing Sensing Technology, a hi-tech innovative company engaged in big data and artificial intelligence, to set up a system using bid data in the public security sector.

The technology is equipped with tracking and recognition systems and can help police identify criminals. With the help of surveillance cameras installed at airports, railway stations, bus stations and some scenic areas, the real-time pedestrian detection and recognition system can identify the age, gender and clothing of pedestrians. The technology can also identify vehicles.

In addition, the system can calculate the degree of correspondence between an individual's image and specified personal information in the database on a real-time basis.

With the help of big data, the local public security bureau has solved more than 90 percent of robbery and murder cases. There has also been a marked decrease in crime rates, leading to a stronger sense of security among city residents.